Mina Takahashi

One year in America

This is a story about when I was in JHS and HS. I started to study English from JHS, and now I am a sophomore in University, so it has been seven years and a half since I began studying English.

At first I liked English, because it was so easy and fun, but my second year in JHS, I was totally stuck. My English teacher was not good at teaching it, and after a midterm test, when we were correcting the mistakes that we made, she said “There are just five people in this class who got right answers for these questions. Raise your hands”, and those people seemed so proud, and raised their hands. I blamed myself wondering why I got wrong answers for these stupid easy questions! I got so frustrated, and I even got jealous. But fortunately, they gave me motivation. That’s when I decided to study more and harder, to get high scores like them. When I went to cram school, I did a lot more work than everybody else. All I did was study, study, and study. When I finished one exercise, I went to another one, even if the teacher didn’t tell me to do so. When everyone was talking after they finished the exercise, I didn’t talk with them, and just kept going on to another one.

The teacher also helped me to make my English skill better. He gave me a lot of things to do, and when I didn’t understand, he explained them to me so clearly, and one day he gave me a really thin textbook. It was so funny, because they just have like two or three questions on every one page! It was easy, too, but I did all of the exercises. Usually, most English textbooks have too much information, and we often get confused, but in this book, there were just a few important grammar points that we had to know. It helped me a lot and I kept doing all these easy things, and my English skill got better and better.

After entering HS, I went to America on a short exchange program. That short stay motivated me a lot to study English more! My host family was really awesome. I have been in contact with them very often, since then. I made a promise to them that I would come back someday again. That’s the time that I decided to go to America for a longer exchange program. I took a test, and I passed it, so I fortunately could attend American high school as a senior.

At first, I couldn’t really understand what my teachers were saying, and every time I raised my hand to ask a question, some teachers ignored me just because I was an exchange student. I don’t know for sure why they ignored me, but I think they thought I would not understand their explanation. But some teachers were not like that. They tried to communicate with me any time I had a question. So I tried really hard to understand not only English but also their lectures. After three months, I was able to understand what they were saying in class. I also was able to understand what American high school kids were talking about. From then, my high school life in America became more enjoyable.

In the first semester, my grades were not so good. I got Bs mostly, and a few As. But my Japanese friend who came from the same HS got straight As! So I realized that if I tried really hard, I could get high grades. I used to be lazy, thinking that was ok if I couldn’t understand because I was an exchange student, but I learned from her that I should try hard like the other American local kids. In the second semester, and third semester, I got mostly As, and few Bs. I tried so hard, so after a graduation of high school, I was so happy. I suffered a lot, but this long stay in America gave me a lot more confidence than before, and more motivation to study English.

After coming back from America, I studied hard, and now I am in Dokkyo University. I am proud of being a Dokkyo University student. A few people say, “I wanted to go to Sophia University, but I had to come to this university, and this school sucks!” But I think Dokkyo is an awesome university. Most people in this university are well motivated, and I admire their English skills. I would like to learn as much as I can and I will always try my best!!!